Fortinet FortiGate FortiGate-1000A Administration Manual page 97

System Config
FortiGate-1000A/FA2 Administration Guide
Unit Priority
Optionally set the unit priority of the cluster unit. Each cluster unit can have a different
unit priority. The unit priority is not synchronized among cluster members. During HA
negotiation, the unit with the highest unit priority becomes the primary unit. The unit
priority range is 0 to 255. The default unit priority is 128.
You can use the unit priority to control the order in which cluster units become the
primary unit when a cluster unit fails. For example, if you have three FortiGate units in
a cluster you can set the unit priorities as shown in
be the primary unit because it has the highest priority. If cluster unit A fails, cluster
unit B becomes the primary unit because cluster unit B has a higher unit priority than
cluster unit C.
Table 4: Example unit priorities for a cluster of three cluster units
Cluster unit
A
B
C
In a functioning cluster, if you change the unit priority of the current primary unit to a
lower priority, when the cluster renegotiates a different cluster unit becomes the
primary unit.
Override Master
Configure a cluster unit to always override the current primary unit and become the
primary unit. Enable override master for the cluster unit that you have given the
highest unit priority. Enabling override master means that this cluster unit always
becomes the primary unit.
In a typical FortiGate cluster configuration, the primary unit is selected automatically.
In some situations, you might want to control which unit becomes the primary unit. You
can configure a FortiGate unit as the permanent primary unit by setting a high unit
priority and by selecting override master. With this configuration, the same cluster unit
always becomes the primary unit.
If override master is enabled and the primary unit fails, another cluster unit becomes
the primary unit. When the cluster unit with override master enabled rejoins the cluster
it overrides the current primary unit and becomes the new primary unit. When this
override occurs, all communication sessions through the cluster are lost and must be
re-established.
Override master is not synchronized to all cluster units.
In a functioning cluster, if you select override master for a cluster unit the cluster re-
negotiates and may select a new primary cluster unit.
Password
Enter a password for the HA cluster. The password must be the same for all cluster
units. The maximum password length is 15 characters.
01-28011-0254-20051115
Unit priority
200
100
50
Table 4. Cluster unit A will always
HA
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